Everyone can do Parkour if they are shown the right first steps for them and are invited to see the world as a series of opportunities. We all have obstacles to overcome. I’m very happy when other movement groups are happy to share the opportunities that Parkour offers.

Shawn and I had talked about me being on his podcast for the past 2 years. We eventually got around to it and hear it is! I really enjoyed talking all things movement culture, parkour, See&Do and my new projects around Positive Ageing.

It was great to get a chance to share my movement journey and research conclusions about Parkour with John Sifferman and his audience of listeners on the website Physical Living. We covered various topics including the reality versus YouTube experience of Parkour, inclusivity and how it’s important to see it to be it.

“Julie Angel is a British filmmaker, artist, academic and writer. After finding Parkour, Julie became interested in the idea of movement and free-running, making it the focus of her PhD and setting up the movement group See&Do.

“This week I am so thankful to have the amazing Julie Angel on the podcast! Julie is an independent filmmaker, author (“Breaking the Jump”), and has perhaps the coolest PhD thesis of all time, “Cine Parkour: a cinematic and theoretical contribution to the practice of parkour”, AKA observing and talking to parkour athletes to better understand what they do and why they do it. Why didn’t I think of this when I was in school?! We cover a lot of ground here, including: How she first got started in MovNat and ParkourWhat it takes for movement “ignition”. Yamakasi: the beginnings of parkour. The evolution of coaching in parkour. Breaking the Jump. See & Do…and much much more!”

“In this interview, Julie takes us back to the early beginnings of Parkour. In researching her Parkour-themed PhD thesis, she spent time on the streets getting to know the Yamakasi — the original group of Parkour practitioners — and got an up-close and personal look into the lives of these interesting characters who shaped the modern Parkour movement. To me, Parkour represents human wildness breaking free in domesticated landscapes — the human animal in movement across urban habitat. City dwellers, take note, this can be a unique way for you to utilize your environment for your natural movement practice! At the heart of Parkour, is a message of looking past the limitations of our environment, our innate, primal drive for sovereignty and embracing our intrinsic wildness.”

Parkour’s Angel by Hal Walter for Dr. Phil Maffetone
“Joy of movement leads filmmaker-author to Ph.D., boo and transformation to a life of health and fitness. Parkour has been described as obstacle racing without a stopwatch or a finish line. For author and enthusiast Julie Angel the discipline has become a “high-flying rebellion” to a sedentary lifestyle. The 46-year-old filmmaker and artist made Parkour the subject of her Ph.D. studies as well as her new book Breaking the Jump, which serves as the unofficial historical documentary of this largely unknown story.”

“Julie Angel received her doctorate researching Parkour, and she has a new book out, Breaking the Jump, which chronicles the birth of this movement. The book, and our conversation, wind up tackling the larger issues that have emerged out of Parkour- like how the origin and effects of this movement is about something so much bigger than athletics or physical training; Really how it was an is a way to evolve as a human. We also get into our cultural biases to, on the one hand, abuse ourselves with physical training, and on the other hand to be so obsessively careful and terrified of movement or of leaning into the edges of one’s capabilities that we wind up without much middle ground. We also discuss Julie’s personal journey from a sedentary academic to someone who also does Parkour and how that has changed her and how she sees the world.”

Julie discusses how she began studying parkour. Her newly published book“Breaking the Jump” and the history of parkour. Parkour’s unique story and its transformation from private to public. On sharing parkour with future generations. What the See & Do initiative is and Women in parkour. She took some fan questions “What advice would you have to people pursuing academic careers related to parkour?”“What’s one important thing that you want the modern parkour community to learn from the founders?” “What’s one thing that the modern parkour community does well that you think would have been beneficial for the founders early on in their practice. On communication in the parkour community “Where’s the secret spot in ‘Parkour Documentary?’”

How we interpret and interact with the physical world around us is the result of how we think and that affects what we do. How we learn to use our bodies is a way of becoming members of society. Tradition lets us know what is appro­priate in terms of our status, age and gender, but tradition isn’t always good for equality or health. All of this is transmitted across generations to make these mechanisms seem ‘normal’, eventually entering the realm of ‘natural’, but they are not.

“Beyond the physical benefits of Parkour, it will also empower and liberate you in ways that you never expected. The city becomes yours, a personal training ground as you explore and venture into less celebrated urban spaces. Adventures in a low level urban terrain can keep you addicted for years. Where once you would have walked past railings, now you evaluate them in terms of height, stability, width at the top, and the drop on the other side. Architecture stays the same; what has changed is your joy and appreciation of it.”